Alectorophobia
by PsycopathicPyromaniac
Summary: Just a small idea I came up with a while ago. When Link's abnormal fear comes to play, things become humorous. Might be bad but whatever.


Alectorophobia

It was early in the morning, the sun having just risen over the eastern fields of Hyrule, as a young boy exited the forest. He was dressed in a small green tunic and was wearing soft felt boots. On his back was a small sword and a wooden shield, a slingshot hanging from his waist. He calmly shift his long green hat to hold back his shoulder length blond hair, his bright blue eyes surveying the surrounding land with wonder.

"Link, were not going to get to the castle in time with you just standing there. Come on we need to move." The voice came from a blue fairy slowly flying over the boys head.

"Calm down Navi," he said happily," besides you do realize that we aren't going to be able to reach the castle today, right?"

"That's still no excuse to slack of," she huffed angrily.

Laughing quietly to himself, Link shifted the weight on his back and started off towards the north. It took him nearly two days but he finally reached Hyrule's castle town. By the time the young hero and his (slightly) faithful companion arrived, it was nearly noon and the sun was sitting high in the heavens.

"Alright Link, so what's the plan for sneaking in to see the princess?" Navi was currently sitting on the brim of his long green hat, directly above his right ear.

"Why does eveything have to be so sneaky with you Navi," Link said with a smile. "Wouldn't it be easier for us to just go up to the castle and request her attention?"

"Are you insane! This is the princess of Hyrule we're talking about, not some street kid! That means we need a plan, and a solid one at that."

Link groaned at the thought of delaying any more than he had to. "Where are we going to find a plan on sneaking in them," he said a bit rudder that he had planned. "After all you seem to be the expert on-"

"Um excuse me," he heard a voice call out, "did I hear that you were going up to the castle? Do you think that you could do me a favor?"

Turning around Link noticed a young girl standing near the entrance to the palace grounds. She had long, crimson red hair falling beautifully down her white cotton dress. Link could do nothing but stare at her, shocked at how different she looked from the other girls he knew.

"What's it to you if we are going to the castle," Navi said flying off Links hat, "and why should we help someone like you?"

"Navi calm down, I'm sure we can help her with her problems," he said firmly to his fairy. Despite the fact that he had nearly just met her, Link felt a great need to help the girl in front of him. Turning to her he smiled warmly, quickly melting away her fear. "I'm Link by the way, and this is my fairy Navi."

"Fairy? Then that means you two are from the forest!"

"Yep, I used to live in the Kokiri forest to the southwest," he replied happily, proud that someone recognized his people.

"So that means you a fairy boy," she laughed out, "that means that you'll easily be able to help me."

Link simply looked at her giddiness with Navi collapsed on his shoulder, howling with laughter. "I'm sure I'll be able to help you…" Link drew out the last words, looking for her name.

"Oh I'm sorry, my names Malon," she responded, blushing slightly.

"Well then Malon, how may we be of assistance?" He asked her this while trying to perform an elegant bow, at which he failed horribly, falling face first on the ground.

Giggling quietly, Malon looked over at him. "My father went up to the castle to deliver some milk, though I fear he may have fallen asleep.

"So you want Link to go and wake him up if we see him, right?" Navi finished for the fire-haired farm girl.

"Yep," she said with a sweet smile. "Luckily I've benn carrying this egg around with me, so it should be ready to hatch. When the cuccoo comes out you can surely use it to wake my father.

Against his wishes, Link felt a shiver of fear when Malon said the word 'cuccuu'. He had always heard the horrible stories of what those angry birds could do to a man. "Did... did you say cuccuu?" he asked, his voice trembling in spite of himself.

"Um, yah it's the easiest way to wake up my father Talon. Why, is that going to be a problem for you?

"No of course not," he said, putting on a fake smile, "it's just that I've never actually seen a cuccuu before." He carefully took the egg from her, placing it in his tunic.

"Thanks Fairy Boy," Malon called out as she happily skipped away."Well come on then 'Fairy Boy,'" Navi said in Link's ear mockingly. "We still have work to do."

Link sat outside the castle gates perplexed at what he had just gotten himself in to. Nearly four hours ago he had met with the princess who, among other things, told him how he could help her defend Hyrule.

"Wow this trip is gong to be much, much longer than I thought it would," Link said taking a seat on the edge of the fountain in the middle of Castletown.

"Did you really think that you would be finished this soon? I mean, you are going to help the princess save the kingdom, it's not going to be that easy," he heard his airy reply in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, ha ha," he replied. "I knew it was going to be a difficult trip, i just didn't know that there was going to be so many different things for me to do to help."

"That's what you get for trying to do so much for other people."

Ignoring the last comment, Link slowly rose off his seat and began to walk towards the front gate. "Come on Navi, there's some where I want to go before we get started on the next stone up at Death Mountain."

"What! You heard princess Zelda didn't you, we have to get started on that stone right now!' Navi yelled at the bot she was fallowing. Her normally bright blue glow had faded to a faint red in her anger.

"Navi, Navi calm down. It's not going to taker that long, a day at the most, I promise. We're just going down to the ranch to thank Malon and her father for helping us earlier, that's all."

Flying in front of him she stopped short, her small body hovering only a few inches in front of Link's nose. At this distance he could faintly make out her lithe body, instead of just a simple glow as he usually saw her. "You better not be lying to me kid, or I swear I'm going to make this journey very difficult for you."

"Of course not Navi," he replied innocently, "I promise you that as soon as we thank the two at the farm we'll head straight of to Kakariko Village. All right?" he asked her with a slight smile.

Her only response was to slowly fly to the south, fallowed by a giddy, smiling Link. True to his word, Link quickly made his way across the Hyrulian fields and made it to Lon Lon Ranch just as the sun was setting.

Upon making it to the ranch, Link noticed a vaguely familiar song floating through the air. Looking around he noticed a barn and a small house near the entrance of the gate. The rest ofd his view was taken up by a large field stretching before him, to more small buildings resting on the far side. In the middle of the field, Link noticed the familiar red headed farm girl surrounded by frolicking horses.

Smiling to himself Link quietly snuck up around her, thankful for the ever darkening sky. However, before he could reach her he was struck dead stiff in his tracks. There, standing before him, was a great horror; one of the few things that Link had ever feared was standing not twenty feet from him, looking up with coal black eyes.

'Just back away slowly,' he thought to himself slowly lifting his feet. 'it hasn't noticed you yet, all you have to do is quietly -' SNAP! The sound rang out around the ranch as Link slowly lifted his foot off the broken branch. his face white with fear. It was to late however as the bird turned towards him and began to walk forward.

Once more the silence of the night was shattered. This time though, it was from the scream of a tunic clad boy, running in fear of the bird chasing him. Yet it was no use, the cuccuu easily kept pace as it fallowed him throughout the ranch clucking wildly.

Links thoughts were in turmoil as he ran, trying to find a way to escape the demonic creature behind a thought cut through the mayhem in his mind: the buildings; it can't get me in the buildings.

With a new purpose Link quickly ran to the small building near the entrance to the ranch, the bird slowly gaining ground on him. Finally he reached his destination, flung open the door before him, dove in and slammed it once he took the time to notice his surroundings, things got much, much worse.

The room he had just tried so hard to get into was filled with the one thing he had just been trying to escape. There were fifteen cuccuu's in he room, running around the boy as he stood stricken in fear. Despite Navi trying to get his attention Link heard only the clucking around him, his heart beating a dreadful taboo, his pulse skyrocketing.

Links last thought that day was of how horrible it would be to die like that before passing out and slowly slumping to the floor. It had been nearly seven years since that day, his first encounter with the white feathered beast, yet he still held on to his fear; one of very few. Allectorophobia: the fear of chickens.


End file.
